Anthropology museum awarded grant for digital archive

July 21, 2006

The Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology has been awarded a $149,000 grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to complete a digital archive of the artifacts in its collections.

The museum will continue work started under a previous IMLS award to install new collections database software, train staff in its use, and update more than 27,000 archaeological and ethnographic object records.

The project will ultimately produce a complete Web-based, public-access version of the museum catalog for use by universities, scholars, schoolchildren and the general public.

In addition to thousands of adult visitors, more than 8,500 schoolchildren come to the museum or are visited in their schools by staff members each year and have the opportunity to view objects from the collections, said Stephen Whittington, director of the museum. “The project will greatly expand the museum’s education and collections care missions and will provide outreach to underserved secondary schools.”

Wake Forest students will assist with inventory, basic condition assessment and digital photography of objects in the museum’s collections to create the digital archive.

IMLS, the nation’s largest federal funding program for museums, provides grants to support life-long learning, sustain cultural heritage or serve as centers of community engagement.